Jamie LendinoGarmin n&uuml;vi 1390TDespite pesky ads that come with free lifetime traffic, the Garmin n&uuml;vi 1390 brings many high-end navigation features down to a budget price point. And it helps you drive more efficiently.

Lifetime traffic comes with frequent ads, even if you turn the feature off. No 3D landmarks or multi-segment routing.

Bottom Line

Despite pesky ads that come with free lifetime traffic, the Garmin nüvi 1390 brings many high-end navigation features down to a budget price point. And it helps you drive more efficiently.

The market is flooded with personal navigation devices these days. But that doesn't mean new entrants can't stand outparticularly if they offer unprecedented value. The Garmin nüvi 1390 ($269.99 list), our latest Editors' Choice, accomplishes this feat by bringing most of the Garmin nüvi 755T's ($499.99, ) high-end features down to a relatively low price point, making it one of our 10 best GPS devices.

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Design, POI Search, and ecoRoute
The 5.7-ounce nüvi 1390 comes with a rugged rubberized housing, and measures a slim 2.9 by 4.8 by 0.6 inches (HWD). The 4.3-inch matte touch screen features 480-by-272-pixel resolution, which is similar to other devices in this class. A basic two-piece mount makes it easy to affix the nüvi 1390 to the windshield, or your car's dashboard with the addition of the included adhesive-backed disc. But the power cable still connects directly to the nüvi 1390, meaning you'll have to manually disconnect it each time you exit the car, unlike with the higher-end nüvi 755T.

The nüvi 1390 took a few extra minutes to lock onto my location the first time I powered it up, but was very fast from then on. Just like with other Garmin devices I've tested, POI searches were as simple as could be, with smart category definitions, a roomy on-screen QWERTY keyboard, and a well-populated, 6-million-entry points-of-interest database. You can also easily bring up recent destinations, save favorites, or search for nearby points of interest. Plus, the unit shows you the distance and the direction to each POI, and constantly refreshes the view, which is handy when you're driving on an unfamiliar road and wondering where the closest gas station is.

As with last year's Editors' Choice-winning Garmin nüvi 265T ($299.99, ), the ecoRoute feature offers plenty of useful trip information. It computes the total cost of each trip based on your car's average mileage, your driving techniques, and current gas prices, and also computes your carbon footprint and other relevant information. The ecoRoute icon itself wasn't particularly helpful, though. It changes color based on how well you're driving: from green, indicating that you're driving efficiently, to yellow and then red, if you accelerate or brake too sharply, or spend too much time idling. In my tests, the ecoRoute number jumped around, from 98 to 99 on a 40 mph road (traveling 41 to 42 mph), to 63 to 68 on highways, to 0 and bright red at every single traffic light. Add the optional ecoRoute HD ($149.99, ), though, and the two-piece system combine into a fuel-saving, trip-optimizing powerhouse with reams of data. (See the ecoRoute HD review for more details.)

Map Graphics, Navigation Performance, and Other Features
With this nüvi, Garmin has smoothed out its map graphics and animation. The map view adjusts the camera and zoom level automatically, to optimize the view around exit ramps, zoom in closer on local streets, and zoom back out on highways. The sharp fonts and colorful icons were about as large as possible without making the display bigger. Plus, speed limit signs appeared on all interstates and most secondary roads I tested.

Unlike the nüvi 265T, the 1390 offers two kinds of lane assistance. Typically, the device will display prominent arrows that match up with complex interchanges. For example, on a five-lane highway with a two-lane exit, the nüvi 1390 will display three arrows to the left, and two highlighted arrows to the right, indicating where you should head. But on highways, the nüvi 1390 shifts to a sharp 3D view with a large colorful arrow showing the proper lane to be in. The nüvi 1390 lacks 3D landmarks and multi-segment routing; you'll have to step up to the $280 755T for those.

On the road, routing was as accurate as I expected, and even a little smarter than some other recent devices I've tested. For example, it insisted I drive over an extra mile and jump on a highway, whereas other units were distracted by an eight-mile stretch of a local route with plenty of traffic lights, that's often slower than the highway. Route recalculations were also quick. On the audio side, voice prompts were clear, crisp, and smooth; I didn't hear any street name mispronunciations in a week of driving all around eastern Massachusetts.

Other nice features: the nüvi 1390 includes a Bluetooth mode for making cell phone calls. You can also dial numbers using an on-screen keypad, or call points of interest if a number is in the database. The built-in lithium ion battery offers up to four hours of operation on a single charge. Like many recent PNDs, the nüvi 1390 also includes a currency converter and JPEG viewer, though it lacks an MP3 player. If you plan to take advantage of the nüvi 1390's thin size and pedestrian routing on foot, Garmin's downloadable cityXplorer maps add public transit information for specific cities, including bus, subway and tram data. At $9.99 to $14.99 per city, public transportation map costs can add up quickly. That's in addition to Garmin's regular map updates, which begin at $69.99 per shot or $119.99 per lifetime subscription (depending on the device).

Traffic Performance
The nüvi 1390 features a lifetime traffic subscription with a built-in FM traffic receiver. When activated, the unit changes your routing based on upcoming traffic conditions. This worked inconsistently in my tests; on one trip in Boston during rush hour, the unit added over 20 minutes to my route in an attempt to navigate around traffic on I-93completely pointless, since all it did was make me exit and enter the highway several times in long lines of traffic. The price for this questionable performance is frequent ads that pop over the UI and map view. These ads show up even with the traffic feature disabled. Traffic routing hasn't improved in my various PND tests over the past couple of years; at best, it's hit or miss, and at worst, it's better to not know at all. Given that several quality iPhone apps now offer free traffic as part of a one-time purchase fee, the nüvi 1390's ads are unwelcome.

Despite those pesky traffic ads, the Garmin nüvi 1390 is still a top choice that shows up many late model in-car navigation systems, many of which cost over $1,000 and still lack basic features like text-to-speech conversion and fast route recalculations. If you're looking for the best overall feature package in a stand-alone GPS, the Garmin nüvi 1390 is tough to beat.

Garmin nüvi 1390T

Bottom Line: Despite pesky ads that come with free lifetime traffic, the Garmin n&uuml;vi 1390 brings many high-end navigation features down to a budget price point. And it helps you drive more efficiently.

About the Author

Jamie Lendino is the Editor-in-Chief of ExtremeTech.com, and has written for PCMag.com and the print magazine since 2005. Recently, Jamie ran the consumer electronics and mobile teams at PCMag, and before that, he was the Editor-in-Chief of Smart Device Central, PCMag's dedicated smartphone site, for its entire three-year run from 2006 to 2009. Pri... See Full Bio

Garmin n&uuml;vi 1390T

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